November 29, 2012 – SPACE – Scientists have reported the largest blast of energy ever recorded from a far-off quasar, some two trillion times more energetic than the sun. The discovery may explain confusing discrepancies between the observed and predicted masses of black holes. Quasars are extremely bright galaxy cores, at the center of which sits a black hole. Their light is generated when material is sucked into that black hole, creating large amounts of energy. But quasars are also capable of emitting that energy back out, away from the black hole, and one of those emissions is what the researchers, led by Nahum Arav of Virginia Tech, observed. The team used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, located in Paranal, Chile.

Energy outflows from quasars on the scale of what Arav’s team observed have been predicted for some time by theorists, but have never been recorded by researchers. The existence of such emissions may answer a question that has intrigued astrophysicists for some time. While theoretical models of the universe tend to approximate what researchers observe, one major difference has persevered: Theoretical models tend to overestimate the mass of black holes relative to the rest of the galaxy. If quasars are ejecting energy at the rate observed by Arav’s team, this could explain where that mass goes. But the theory rests on the notion that such emissions are fairly common, and the team’s discovery is the first such emission researchers have observed. As a result, Arav and his team now want to find more powerful quasar emissions to cement the idea. –LA Times

Published on 28 Nov 2012 by VideoFromSpace Astronomers have found a quasar that's more than five times more powerful than any previously seen. Quasars are mega-bright geysers of matter and energy powered by super-massive black holes at the centers of young galaxies.

When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look east. Jupiter and the full Moon are only a few degrees apart. The bright pair, which looks fantastic, can be seen even from brightly-lit cities. [sky map] [photo gallery] www.spaceweather.com

Decaying sunspot AR1618 (not to be confused with growing sunspot AR1620) erupted on Nov. 27th (1557 UT), producing a last-gasp solar flare ranking M1.6 on the Richter Scale of Flares. A twisted plume of plasma flew away from the blast site, but only temporarily; the sun's gravity pulled the plume back to the stellar surface before it could escape.

Extreme UV radiation from this explosion created some ripples of ionization in Earth's atmosphere above North America and Europe. Otherwise, the blast was not geoeffective. www.spaceweather.com

BIG SUNSPOT KEEPS GROWING: Sunspot AR1620 doubled in size again yesterday. It is now a behemoth almost 10 times as wide as Earth. A movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the sunspot materializing over the past 48 hours:[go to: www.spaceweather.com for video]

So far the sunspot has been relatively quiet, producing no strong flares. However, the sunspot's magnetic field is rapidly changing as the sunspot grows, and rapidly-changing magnetic fields have a tendency to reconnect and erupt. NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of M-class eruptions in the next 24 hours.

MORNING CONJUNCTION: As dawn begins on Wednesday morning, look southeast to find Venus and Saturn less than 2° apart in the constellation Virgo. Venus is very bright, Saturn much less so. A small telescope will reveal the rings of Saturn and the gibbous phase of Venus. Sky maps:Nov. 27, Nov. 28

CME IMPACT: A CME hit Earth's magnetic field on Nov. 26th at approximately 0500 UT (Nov. 25th @ 9 PM PST). The relatively weak impact could spark minor geomagnetic storms in the hours ahead. PRESTO! A HUGE SUNSPOT: Yesterday, sunspot AR1620 was barely visible. Today it is a behemoth wider than a half-dozen planet Earths. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the sunspot's rapid growth in a period of less than 20 hours on Nov. 25-26: [go to www.spaceweather.com to view video]

AR1620 has a beta-gamma magnetic field that harbors energy for strong flares. Because of the sunspot's proximity to the center of the solar disk, Earth would be in the line of fire of any eruptions. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of M-class solar flares in the next 24 hours. www.spaceweather.com

DECLINING CHANCE OF FLARES: Big sunspot AR1618 is in decay, and it hasn't unleashed a strong flare in more than 24 hours. Nevertheless, the sunspot retains a complex ('beta-gamma-delta' class) magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class eruptions. Significant flaring is still possible this weekend. Solar flare alerts:text, voice. GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: A geomagnetic storm is brewing around Earth's poles following a CME strike on Nov. 23rd. A second CME is en route, due to arrive on Nov. 24th. NOAA forecasters say there is a 65% chance that the second strike will trigger strong storms at high latitudes. www.spaceweather.com

CHANCE OF STORMS: NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% to 65% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Nov. 23/24 when a pair of CMEs is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. The incoming clouds were propelled toward Earth by the recent eruptions of sunspot AR1618. Black Friday might be tinged red and green by the glow of high-latitude auroras. SUNSPOT AR1618--UPDATE: Sunspot AR1618 has experienced some decay during the past 24 hours, but it is still potent. The sunspot's magnetic canopy has a 'beta-gamma-delta' configuration that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Because of the sunspot's nearly central location on the solar disk, any eruptions today would be Earth-directed. A sunspot, like AR1618, is a vast island of magnetism floating on the surface of the sun. Magnetic fields bubble up from the sun's interior to form the sunspot's dark cores much like a Pacific island forming from the lava of an undersea volcano. Phil Scherrer, a member of the Solar Dynamics Observatory science team at Stanford University, has prepared an 8-day movie showing the genesis of AR1618: [go to www.spaceweather.com to watch movie]

A companion movie shows the region's magnetic development. In the movie, which Scherrer made using data from SDO's Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), white denotes positive polarity, black denotes negative. Places with mixed polarities are where the magnetic fields can reconnect and erupt, producing solar flares. www.spaceweather.com

The magnetic canopy of big sunspot AR1618 is crackling with M-class solar flares. This image taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the extreme ultraviolet flash from one of them, an M1.6-class flare on Nov. 20th at 1928 UT:

This eruption, and another one like it about 7 hours earlier, might have propelled faint coronal mass ejections (CMEs) toward Earth. If so, the impacts would likely commence on Nov. 23rd, with a chance of high-latitude geomagnetic storms following their arrival.

As the sunspot evolves, so does its intense magnetic field--and this means strong flares are in the offing. Fast-changing magnetic fields on the sun have a tendency to reconnect and erupt. NOAA forecasters estimate a 70% chance of M-class flares and a 15% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours. Because of the sunspot's nearly central location on the solar disk, any eruptions will likely be Earth-directed. Stay tuned for updates. www.spaceweather.com

SOLAR WIND: A medium-speed (~425 km/s) stream of solar wind is buffeting Earth's magnetic field. The solar wind is not blowing hard enough to ignite a full-fledged geomagnetic storm, but it is stirring up some beautiful auroras around the Arctic Circle. Check the realtime aurora gallery for latest images.

ANOTHER FAST-GROWING SUNSPOT: The sunspot number is increasing again. During the past 36 hours, active region AR1618 has more than quadrupled in size. It now has more than a dozen dark cores scattered across an expanse of stellar surface more than 10 times wider than Earth. This movie [go to www.spaceweather.com] from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the sunspot's recent development:

The sunspot has also developed a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for strong solar flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of M-class flares and a 5% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours. Because of the sunspot's nearly central location on the solar disk, any eruptions will likely be Earth-directed. www.spaceweather.com

Barely visible when the weekend began, sunspot AR1619 has blossomed into a large active region more than three times as wide as Earth. Click to play a 24 hour movie recorded by NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory:

So far the growing sunspot has not produced any significant flares, but the quiet is unlikely to continue if its expansion continues apace. Fast-changing magnetic fields on the sun have a tendency to reconnect and erupt. NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% chance of M-class solar flares during the next 24 hours. www.spaceweather.com

The blast hurled a CME into space, but the cloud does not appear to be heading for Earth. A movie of the event, prepared by Steele Hill of the Goddard Space Flight Center, shows magnetic fields in concerted motion across an expanse of solar "terrain" more than 700,000 km wide. Observations by SDO have shown that such wide-ranging eruptions are not uncommon on the sun--the great Global Eruption of August 2010 being the iconic example.www.spaceweather.com

CHANCE OF FLARES: NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of M-class solar flares and a 5% chance of X-flares today. The most likely sources would be sunspots AR1610 and AR1614, which have unstable 'beta-gamma' magnetic fields. Eruptions from AR1614 would likely be Earth-directed.

RED AURORAS: Auroras are usually green, and sometimes purple, but seldom do sky watchers see much red. The geomagnetic storm of Nov. 13/14 was different. It produced auroras with a distinctly rosy hue. David E. Cartier, Sr. photographed the phenomenon near Marsh Lake, about 40 km east of Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory:

"I was amazed by the deep scarlet color, which was immediately recognizable to the unaided eye", says Cartier. Similar splashes of candy-cane red were spotted over Wisconsin and Michigan. The apparition might be related to rare all-red auroras sometimes seen during intense geomagnetic storms. They occur some 300 to 500 km above Earth's surface and are not yet fully understood. Some researchers believe the red lights are linked to a large influx of low-energy electrons. When such electrons recombine with oxygen ions in the upper atmosphere, red photons are emitted. At present, space weather forecasters cannot predict when this will occur. Could more reds be in the offing? NOAA estimates a 30% to 35% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Nov. 16th and 17th. Sky watchers seeing red should submit their images here. www.spaceweather.com